by Amber Lynn
“I’m going to stand by not having a clue who the flowers are from. If you want them, you’re welcome to them. Otherwise, they’re just going to sit there.”
Lani looked over at the flowers before shrugging. “I could at least come up with a good story if anyone asked who they’re from, but the longer they sit on your desk, the more likely it is you’ll find a clue where they came from. They aren’t from a gas station, so whoever he is, he’s got good taste.”
Annie always knew the reason she had a guy for a best friend, and Lani was doing her best to reinforce that. Having met and spent time with Casey, Annie had started to believe not all women were nosy, catty and manipulative. Sadly that had been what she dealt with most of her life and had only found two or three women who hadn’t eventually ended up driving Annie crazy.
“How do you know they aren’t from a gas station?” Annie hadn’t received flowers before, so she didn’t know anything about them. She expected them to smell, but as far as she could tell, even with them shoved in her face, there wasn’t much of a scent.
“The stamp on the vase. It’s from that high-end shop down the street. I bet they cost at least a hundred bucks, probably a little more.”
As much as she didn’t know about flowers from a florist, Annie didn’t know how much they cost. To her, a hundred bucks was too much when they were bound to die in a day or two.
Annie looked around to see if there was anyone else around who had some input about the flowers. Like her apartment, the floorplan was open, with no cubicle walls blocking the view. The modern furniture, with desks that allowed you to either sit or stand while you worked, had started out as a bit of a surprise. In the beginning, she thought she’d absolutely hate it, but it had grown on her. There was definitely something to be said for being able to stretch your legs without leaving your desk.
“And the person who brought them said they were for me?” Annie should have questioned that earlier in the conversation. The whole conversation could’ve been a mistake.
“Unless we have another Annabelle Lake around here, I think they’ve gotten to their recipient. Since I didn’t know that was your real name, I almost told the guy to get lost.”
Hearing that her full name was used, Annie thought it was likely Nelson who was behind the flowers, but she couldn’t remember if she’d told Doug that information. It didn’t matter who they were from, because Annie wasn’t sure what they meant. Neither guy had a reason she thought justifiable for sending flowers to her work.
“Well, thank you for seeing that they made it to my desk. I guess I’ll have to enjoy them for now and figure out where they came from later, because I have to go set up for a meeting.”
So much for getting any work done. The only thing Annie was happy to see about the time was that it was only an hour before she could call it a day. Sadly, that hour was going to be spent in the meeting.
She dismissed Lani’s attempts to prod her a few more times for a name. The woman wouldn’t give up. She clearly didn’t understand how stubborn Annie could be.
On the way to the conference room, Annie felt her phone vibrate. It was on top of the laptop and notebook, which were cradled to her chest. She didn’t have time to check it right then, so whoever it was had to wait.
Her boss was already waiting in the room, not having left after their last meeting. Annie should’ve followed her lead, but she didn’t like her boss hovering over her shoulder any more than clients. Not that her boss seemed to really hover. She just didn’t want to be under someone else’s microscope.
Olivia smiled at her when she saw her setting up her computer to share on the projection screen. “I bet you’re going to love the fact that we don’t have any meetings together tomorrow.”
It would’ve been rude to instantly agree, so Annie bit her tongue. “I’m hoping to get a chance to get some work done. After all the new requests today, it’s going to take me two weeks to catch up.”
Two weeks was generous. Most of the deadlines were reasonable, but there were a couple quick turnarounds. Annie tried not to take her work home with her, but being salaried meant there wasn’t any excuse for missing a deadline.
“After watching you work the last few months, I’m sure you’ll handle everything and impress the clients, as usual. I am curious if there’s anything I need to be concerned about in the months ahead, though. I’ve been letting you take on a heavy load, which we’re going to probably want to slow down at some point.”
Annie looked up from opening documents to see if she could ascertain what the comment meant. Olivia had her head tilted down to look at her own computer, so Annie could see her bobbed brunette hair, but not her blue eyes.
“Why would there be anything in the months ahead that would keep me from getting the job done?”
“You’ve worked here for around five months now, so I like to think I have a good handle on who you are as a person.” Olivia paused as she looked up, taking off her golden framed glasses so she could set them down next to her computer. “In that time, I’ve come to believe you do things for a reason. What reason, other than being pregnant, could you possibly have for going from tight-fitting clothing to things like that frock you’re wearing today?”
Annie looked down at the garment in question. It was deep purple, and she thought it was one of the more attractive shirts she’d bought when she decided it was time to start hiding her bump. Nothing she’d bought was labeled maternity, but evidently it might as well have been.
“Obviously you meant that as a rhetorical question. I just told the father about the baby, so I wanted to wait for things to settle down there before I shared it with anyone else.”
The family leave that went with her job was pretty clear that she could have two months off if she wanted them, but Annie hadn’t made it that far into planning ahead, which meant she didn’t have anything to share with Olivia. Everything kind of depended on Nels, so it was hard to mark things on the calendar.
“I see. Obviously you and the father aren’t that close if you’re already showing and just telling him.”
Annie wasn’t sure if Olivia was being condescending, or if the haughty tone in her voice was something else. There were a lot of times her words didn’t match with how things she said came across. That tended to make it hard to figure out her mood.
“I know everyone says it, but it really is complicated. We are close, I just wasn’t ready to tell him until recently.”
It was a little harder to tell her boss that her personal life wasn’t any of her business, like she had with Lani. If it was just who she was dating, it’d be one thing. The fact that eventually she was going to need a little time off to have the baby made it so Olivia needed to be clued in on some of the facts.
“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard someone in a relationship say things weren’t complicated at least once. How far along are you?”
She looked back down to her computer, which caused Annie to do the same. The client they were waiting on was supposed to be there already, so the end of the conversation needed to happen soon.
“Around seventeen weeks. We’ve still got a while before I’ll need any time off.”
Annie had worked things out so her doctor visits had been during her lunch breaks, but there were chances she wouldn’t always be able to do that.
“If you need time, take it. You haven’t had a day off since you started working, other than weekends and holidays, so you have plenty of PTO.”
Olivia’s assistant opened the door and escorted a group of people inside before Annie could reply. There were two men and three women in the group, which was a little bit of an intimidating size for a meeting. Usually the most a client would send was two people. Every once in a while Annie saw three, but five people was a lot of opinions. Getting them all to agree on something wasn’t going to be easy.
Prior to getting down to business, Annie took a second to look at her phone. She’d forgotten about the text, and wasn’t shocked to see it
was from Nels. They’d mostly been giving each other space, but she found it hard not to send him messages throughout the day. Up until the baby reveal, they traded at least ten texts a day.
If you’re not busy after work, stop by my place.
No mention of the flowers in the text, which didn’t really tell her anything. If Nelson sent them, he may not have specified a time and wouldn’t know if she’d received them yet. She didn’t waste time texting him back right then, because Olivia had jumped into their presentation, which meant she needed to pay attention.
She’d stop by his place and see what he wanted. He was only home for another day before he had to go on the road for a game. A game away on Wednesday night meant he was going to have to hurry back to make it to their check-up. He’d texted when he realized that the preseason schedule was likely to make things tight for the appointment, but promised he’d be there no matter what.
Annie knew how important the appointment was to her, and it seemed Nelson shared the sentiment. Once the season started, and things were hectic with his schedule, his attention was going to be drawn in two directions. Annie had said from the beginning that she knew Nelson would do right by their child, but a part of her wondered if the game would distract him from that.
She couldn’t stop and think about how things would turn out in the future when she was required to put on her business face and show the newcomers to the room there was a good reason people brought their business to her. It wasn’t something she liked doing, but she was getting better at it.
Chapter Fifteen
Nelson had never felt as emotionally broken as he did waiting for Annie to show up. It was just after six-thirty, so if she came straight from work, she’d walk through the door any second. There hadn’t been a reply to his text, so he wasn’t sure she was going to make an appearance. A part of him hoped she had other plans and wouldn’t show.
After the afternoon he’d had, he thought she owed it to him to explain a few things. In reality, she didn’t owe him anything, but Nelson hoped she’d make sense of the things he’d pieced together. Making assumptions on his own had been hard, but hearing them from her would probably be even harder.
Lunch with Dylan had gone by in a blur as the smell problem Nelson was having lingered. Even after they’d parted ways and Nelson made it home to change out of his clothes and into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, Nelson couldn’t get the smell out of his head. The niggling feeling of knowing the smell meant something didn’t go away until he finally figured out what that something was.
A soft knock at the door kept Nelson from digging deeper into the turmoil his brain wouldn’t let him escape. He’d been pacing around the apartment, so he was already on his feet and could have easily closed the space between him and the door. Instead, he took a few deep breaths and tried to get his emotions under control. It wasn’t an easy task, but it was necessary if he wanted to get any answers.
Once he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to immediately start yelling or break down in tears, he walked over to the door and opened it. Seeing Annie standing there, dissolved some of his resolve. He wanted to do nothing more than sweep her up in his arms and kiss some sense into her, but he had to tread lightly.
“Hey, sorry I didn’t text back that I’d be here. My day was crazy and pretty much horrible, so I barely got a chance to read your text before I was on my way home.”
Nelson doubted her day competed with his, but he moved out of the way and let her inside. He should’ve made her something to eat, like she had for him the night before. Cooking had been the last thing on his mind, so depending on how their conversation went, he was going to have to order some take-out. The ending he saw more often than not when scenarios played out in his head was her storming out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.
“I’m sorry to hear that. My day wasn’t any better.” Nelson escorted her over to his lumpy couch and sat down next to her. Her general demeanor was a little formal, which spoke to how far their relationship had unraveled.
Nelson’s wish for the day was to get some of the easiness back, but that meant they had to go through a cleansing of sorts. What he saw as a deep cleansing. He wasn’t sure of everything that had been left unsaid up to that point. He wanted to get it all out on the table, though, and that meant it was time for an uncomfortable conversation.
“It sounds like we had pretty similar days then.” Nelson didn’t elaborate. She hadn’t said anything, and he was basically repeating himself, but he wasn’t sure how to segue into the things they needed to discuss, without things turning into an instant shouting match. Because the urge to yell was welling up inside of him again.
“I can imagine, after the loss last night. How many of the guys did they have to sweep off the ice?”
There was a split second that Nelson thought about saying Doug’s name, just to gauge her reaction. Chances were she’d already gotten a full rundown, so he held back.
“Surprisingly, we didn’t have to drag anyone back to the locker room. It was touch and go there for a while. So, what was so awful about your day?”
Annie had only gushed when it came to describing work. She was so excited to be part of something bigger than a newspaper with under a hundred thousand circulation that Nelson thought nothing could get her down.
“Just meetings really. I love what I get to do after a client signs on, but having to meet with them and argue about how stupid their ideas can be is taxing.”
Annie had never been a people person, so Nelson immediately understood her problem. He’d always been surprised that she didn’t go into business for herself and conduct it all through emails. She created amazing things, but even being in an office all day was probably hard for her.
“Listening to Hines is more than likely just as taxing. I almost collided with him on purpose today to see if I could get him to swallow that dang whistle of his. That is a noise I prefer not to hear for about a decade. Sadly, I’m pretty sure he’s going to be back at it tomorrow morning.”
Annie shook her head, and finally relaxed a little bit into the couch. Even though the green beast had as many lumps as there was sugar in a high-octane coffee, it was relatively comfy.
“I don’t envy you. My boss asked me about my wardrobe changes today. I guess I shouldn’t have immediately jumped to wearing tents.”
Nelson saw her start fidgeting with the edge of her shirt. He had to kick himself for not noticing the fact more of the baggy shirts had made it into her daily attire.
“I guess I forgot to share that I kind of told the locker room last night that I was having a kid. I didn’t say anything about you, but it’s one of those things that’s hard not to share. You know?”
As he spoke, he reached over to take her hand, more checking to see if she’d allow it than anything else. Her fingers were like ice, but she didn’t hesitate to entangle them with his.
“How much ribbing did you get?” With their hands connected, Annie became even more comfortable and leaned her head down on his shoulder.
That was how things were supposed to be between them. Nelson couldn’t see it as a comfortable gesture between friends anymore, like it had once been. It had been months since he could truthfully say they’d ever be able to go back to that part of their friendship.
“It wasn’t too bad, and evidently it made people think that I was qualified to give relationship advice. At least that’s what I took from being asked relationship questions today.”
Annie laughed, and Nelson wished it was a joke. He still wasn’t sure why Doug had decided to bring up the topic of his relationship woes, but he did understand a little bit more about the woman involved.
“I shouldn’t laugh, but that has to be one of the funniest things you’ve ever said. You set the poor guy straight, right?”
“If you think the general thought of someone asking me for that kind of advice is funny, you’re going to lose it when you hear it was Doug. I didn’t even know the guy was seeing someon
e, but apparently she’s got him all tied up in knots.”
The reaction was subtle, but with Annie leaning against him, Nelson could feel the slight stiffening of her shoulders. She didn’t say anything in response, so Nelson continued along with the general story.
“He must have thought the short conversation was some kind of bonding moment, because he actually gave me a man hug before I left the locker room. I thought for a second he’d lost his mind, but as the day went on, things kind of fell into place to explain his actions. So, how long have you two been going out? I kind of feel like I’ve gotten conflicting stories.”
Nelson was at the point he didn’t know what to think or believe. When Annie had said she had a boyfriend, he didn’t think for a second it would end up being one of his teammates.
“What did he tell you?” The words were a whisper, but Annie hadn’t moved from her spot to put distance between them. Nelson had been sure she’d immediately try to get as far away from him as possible.
“What did he tell me? He told me nothing about you in any amount of detail that would’ve clued me in. I think he wanted me to know, though.”
Annie’s head bounced up, leaving her shoulders still touching him. She seemed calm, which was the exact opposite of what was going on inside of Nelson’s head. He wanted her to tell him he was wrong, but her reaction let him know that wasn’t the case.
“Why do you say he wanted you to know?”
“I think you have more explaining to do than me, but I’m basing my conclusion on the fact that he made sure I couldn’t get his horrible cologne out of my nose all day. I didn’t understand exactly why until about an hour ago.”
His words finally got Annie to move, so she could sit up and look at him. It was nice to see there was some confusion in her eyes.
